The tavern, even at this time, was of some size, and additions had perhaps been built by Stoughton. The rooms were designated by names, as in the taverns of Old England. In the chamber called the "Cross Keys" met the Scots Charitable Society, a benefit society for the residents of Scottish birth and sojourners from Scotland, two of the officers keeping each a key of the money box. The most noted of the chambers was that of the "Green Dragon," which at about this time gave the name of "Green Dragon" to the tavern. There were also the "Anchor," the "Castle," the "Sun," and the "Rose" chambers, which were also the names of other taverns in the town at that period. One cold December night in 1690, just after midnight, a fire occurred in the "Green Dragon," and it was burnt to the ground and very little of its contents saved. Snow on the houses in the vicinity was the means of preventing the spread of the flames, with the fact that there was no wind at the time. Within a year or two the tavern was rebuilt by Stoughton and again occupied by Abraham Smith, who died in 1696, leaving an estate of £273: 19: 5. His widow, Mary Smith, died shortly after her husband. In her will she freed her negro women Sue and Maria, and the deeds of manumission are recorded in the Suffolk Deeds. VIII. THE GOLDEN BALL TAVERN. In the manuscript collections of the Bostonian Society is a plan showing the earliest owners of the land bordering on the Corn Market. On the site now the south corner of Faneuil Hall Square and Merchants' Row is noted the possession of Edward Tyng. Another manuscript of the Society, equally unique, is an apprentice indenture of Robert Orchard in 1662. In the account of Orchard, printed in the _Publications of the Society_, Vol. IV, is given the continued history of Tyng's land after it came into the possession of Theodore Atkinson. In the history of the sign of the _Golden Ball Tavern_ we continue the story of the same plot of land. Originally owned by Edward Tyng, and later by Theodore Atkinson, and then by the purchase of the property by Henry Deering, who married the widow of Atkinson's son Theodore. All this was told in the Orchard article. It was about 1700 that Henry Deering erected on his land on the north side of a passage leading from Merchants' Row, on its west side, a building which was soon occupied as a tavern. Samuel Tyley, who had kept the _Star_ in 1699, the _Green Dragon_ in 1701, and later the _Salutation_ at the North End, left this last tavern in 1711 to take Mr. Deering's house in Merchants' Row, the _Golden Ball_. [Illustration: SIGN OF THE BUNCH OF GRAPES Now in the Masonic Temple] [Illustration: SIGN OF THE GOLDEN BALL Now in the possession of the Bostonian Society]